Guwahati, Nov 23 /–/ A team from the state directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption, laid a trap and arrested an engineer and a contractual employee, posted in Assam’s Hojai district, in a bribery case.
Earlier, a complaint was received at the vigilance directorate alleging that Prabhat Kalita, an accredited engineer in the office of the Block Development Officer, Lumding Development Block, Udali, had demanded Rs 1, 50,000 as bribe for processing and releasing pending bills of the complainant.
Unwilling to pay the bribe, the complainant had approached the directorate for taking necessary legal action against the public servant.
The team, thereafter, conducted a trap operation in the office of the BDO, Lumding Development Block, and caught Suraj Bora, a computer operator (contractual), red handed while accepting Rs 10,000 as part of the demanded bribe from the complainant on behalf of the engineer.
The bribe money was seized accordingly in the presence of independent witnesses.
Kalita was subsequently apprehended for demanding the bribe and accepting it through Suraj Bora. The vigilance team found sufficient evidence against the accused duo and arrested them.
In this connection, a case (number 101/2023) was registered at the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) police station under Section 7(a) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018) on Wednesday.
Court convicts cop
The Court of Special Judge, Assam on Wednesday convicted a sub-inspector of Assam Police who was accused in a bribery case dating back to 2018.
Bhagyeswar Hazarika, the sub-inspector (unarmed branch), posted at Bakalia police station in Karbi Anglong district, was sentenced to undergo three years’ rigorous imprisonment, and imposed a fine of Rs 3,000, failing which he has to undergo rigorous imprisonment of one month under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, 1988.
Hazarika has also been sentenced to four years rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 5,000, failing which he has to undergo rigorous imprisonment of two months under Section 13(2) of the PC Act.
Both the sentences will run concurrently, an official statement issued here said.
Notably, the case (number 03/2018) registered at the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) police station, was charge-sheeted on March 29, 2019.
It may be mentioned that a team from the directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption, Assam, had based on a complaint, laid a trap on March 28, 2018 and caught the sub-inspector red handed immediately after he accepted Rs 3,000 as bribe from the complainant for releasing his bike.
The vigilance team thereafter seized the bribe money and arrested the police official.